Bamber Bridge aiming to bounce back from semi-final defeat

Bamber Bridge boss Mick Taylor has backed his men to bounce back strongly after suffering LFA Challenge Trophy agony on Wednesday night.

Brig were denied a place in the final – and a night out at Bolton Wanderers’ University of Bolton Stadium – when they were beaten 2-1 by lower-ranked Colne in the semi-finals.

The defeat at the County Ground, Leyland, was a bitter pill to swallow for Taylor’s men as they failed to hit the heights and their opponents from the NPL West Division deservedly won.

Locked in the dressing room after the match, Taylor held clear-the-air talks with his men as they turn their attentions to NPL Premier Division survival.

Brig are only a handful of points above the relegation places and are currently in the middle of a difficult run of results. They have failed to win in any of their past seven games in all competitions.

“It’s a huge disappointment to lose to Colne,” said Taylor. “But I said to the lads that we have 11 cup finals coming up in the league.

“I don’t think it’s going to be difficult to pick the lads up.

“We had a good chat in the dressing room – an open-air discussion. We realise we need to have a bit more bite about us, a bit more desire.

“It’s something that we have spoken about but it’s okay speaking about it – we are six points above the relegation zone and we have to wake up and smell the coffee.”

This weekend Brig take on title challengers South Shields at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium.

Brig should take some confidence from drawing with the Mariners a couple of weeks ago when they battled back from a two-goal deficit to earn a 3-3 draw.

“We have got to stand up and be counted because South Shields have had a few blips recently,” said Taylor. “They are a bit of a wounded animal and will want to put what happened at their place right.”